Indianapolis-area hospitals spent billions on construction in the past decade and increasingly tried to poach patients from one another’s territories. Yet last year—one of the worst economically in recent history—21 of 26 hospitals still were able to show operating profits.
Methodist Hospital is spending $27 million to renovate its neurosurgery suites as the centerpiece of a big expansion its owner, Clarian Health, hopes will create nearly 1,200 jobs over the next decade and vault Methodist into the top 10 neurosurgery sites in the nation.
It looks like Clarian may be back to deal-making. The Indianapolis-based hospital system has signed a letter of intent to absorb Morgan Hospital and Medical Center.
Neurosciences center and administrative building would employ workers with annual salaries ranging from $27,000 for clerical staff to as high as $104,000 for management.
St. Vincent Health is moving aggressively to expand its transplant program in a direct challenge to Clarian Health’s dominance
in the field. The Indianapolis-based hospital system filed in July for permission to conduct pancreas transplants. And down
the road, it’s eyeing liver and maybe even lung transplants.
Monroe Hospital in Bloomington is the latest target in the statewide buildup by hospital systems. St. Vincent Health, St.
Francis and at least one other system have all had talks in the past month with Monroe.
The scramble by local hospitals to form their physicians and facilities into “clinically integrated” networks
that can do business with employers and health insurers has another huge motivating factor: Beginning January 2012, they can
also do business with Medicare, the massive federal program for seniors.
Clarian Health is launching its own health insurance plan, the boldest of several initiatives at Indianapolis hospitals to
bypass health insurers and provide health benefits directly to employers.
Unemployment in Indiana has moderated slightly, but more than 313,000 Hoosiers remain out of work. And with attempts to extend
benefits for the jobless stalled in Congress, it’s likely more people will struggle to pay medical bills.
Dan Evans, president and CEO of Clarian Health, details his cure for losing sight of day-to-day operations, how
he gauges his effectiveness, and two bits of crucial advice.
If Clarian Health CEO Dan Evans were investing in health care real estate, he’d make bets in three new things: smaller,
denser clinics with lots of computer equipment to do telemedicine; medical office buildings populated by physician assistants;
and nursing homes with a strong relationship with a hospital.
The lawsuit filed this week in Marion Superior Court claims Clarian Health charges uninsured patients—or those receiving
treatments not covered by their insurance—unreasonably high prices.
Clarian will become Indiana University Health early next year in a bet the IU brand carries more punch statewide and nationally.
The Indianapolis-based hospital system, which has 16 hospitals as far afield as LaPorte, Hartford City and Paoli, can
now associate with all its facilities the name of the school that trains the majority of doctors and nurses throughout the
state.
Clarian Health officials on Thursday plan to buy four helicopters as it replaces aircraft in its aging patient-transport
fleet.
Clarian is planning to spend $1.7 billion in the next five years on capital projects, half of that going to its downtown Indianapolis
campuses.
Clarian Health is planning to build a bed tower at Methodist Hospital in a massive project that shows renewed
commitment
to the downtown campus. The tower would have 175 to 250 beds and allow Methodist to make all its rooms private.
To understand why hospitals are so eager to employ physicians—and prevent them from owning their own facilities—look
no further than the latest data on how much doctors are paid compared with how much revenue they generate for hospitals.
Sweeping changes phase in slowly for most, but insurers, hospitals, drug companies, employers, workers, medical device makers
and more will eventually feel impact.
Clarian Health and the Indiana University School of Medicine want their planned neurosciences hub to become a destination
for patients suffering
from brain, nerve and mental maladies—and for the government and industry research dollars that can
fuel advances in care.
